KIRKUS REVIEW

Modern science invents a portal to
an Earth-like parallel world ready for colonization—but there’s a serious
complication: in this new world, utterances become real.

Going through the looking glass? In
author Ivory’s sci-fi parable, it’s actually a “Dimensional Mirror,” an array
of high-speed rotating reflective surfaces and lasers, perfected at a Columbus,
Ohio, research facility. The contraption allows maverick scientist Jerry Jergensen
to create a doorway into an alternate universe. Through the portal there exists
an unspoiled, Earth-like planet, complete with a handful of placid, humanlike
inhabitants who share a collective mind. But Dabar, as the place is called, comes
with new reality. Careless words, lies, hyperbole—and especially anxiety and
profanity (“hell,” in particular)—dangerously alter the very fabricof the place, leading to the deaths of
many on Jergensen’s exploration teams. Only Jergensen is receptive enough to warnings
by the Dabar natives; in an intriguing, subtle Christian evangelical touch,
Jergensen is married to a sexy, avid churchgoer and groks from her mindset the
literal importance of prayer. It takes a few more casualties, but a military-industrial
colonization of Dabar is soon underway, and Jergensen is in even further over
his head. But have people really learned to control their baser instincts—not
to mention their tongues—to make a better world? Reading at times like a
brainier, Rod Serling–esque version of Stargate’s movie/TV franchise, Ivory’s
first novel stays nicely on-message and away from ostentatious genre
insertions—nobody talks into existence, say, a Klingon battlecruiser. The
result is a compelling what-if tale that delivers a satisfyingly wise finale.

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